Action Oriented
by Blue-Inked Frost
Summary: Kitt gets tuition from a senior Academy student. Femslash! Kitt x Chute.


**A/N:** I make use of a theory regarding Kitt's gear by Nemi the Nen.

The rating is for not-too-explicit sex, though the naughty bits don't happen until the last scene. Consider yourself warned for sex, action, and some inappropriate use of tentacle gear (is there ever an appropriate use of tentacle gear?). For the purposes of this story, I've assumed that Chute is about three years older than Kitt.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own them. No disrespect is intended towards the creators by this use.

* * *

They were upside down as they ran.

Kitt concentrated on the mag-push, recalling the technique Artha had taught her. Just a little longer, let centrifugal motion carry them through the loop, and then they'd be racing down and leaping, flying through the air to the next obstacle on the Aerial Track.

Chute had already made the turn down; Kitt followed quickly, her saddle juddering from side to side as she made the descent, down the ramp and to the jump, following in Turbulance's wake. She wasn't winning, couldn't win, but at least she could follow--

Wyldfyr leaped; she activated her Red thrusters, giving her that much of a boost across the gap. She was getting closer to Chute in the air, catching up at last with the senior Academy member.

Chute laughed as she landed on the other side just before Kitt, heading for the steep and narrow side of the track; Wyldfyr crashed to the ground only a second behind, thrusters still firing. They could make this, up the increasingly confined path just behind Chute, into the air again to leap back to the other side, and...

Chute was getting further ahead.

Magna Draconis, she hated losing. Hated _this_, even though she'd been famed on the streets for speed and skill. She activated her thruster gear again, and felt the speed boost, swaying. She could smell smoke; she ignored it, concentrating on keeping her seating. They were getting closer to the Academy senior, rushing up the track behind her--

An explosion as her saddle gave way, smoke pooling around her. She fell into space, flying just before she started falling; she could see that Wyldfyr had stopped running slipping backwards down the ramp, and then she was below the track and heading straight down...

Something touched her. "Going somewhere?" Chute said, grabbing her around the waist.

"Yeah, just thought I'd drop into Old City!" she yelled. They were _falling_, it wasn't the time for stupid jokes, they needed to stop it...

"Yeah, let's go!"

To her growing horror, Chute was _laughing_ as they fell. It wasn't fair; she was only seventeen, she'd just started her time at the Academy, she hadn't even been on a proper _date_ yet...

She screamed; she couldn't help it.

And then they stopped suddenly, were yanked back up into the air, bounced, and finally came to a stop as Chute's bungee cord pulled tight.

"How about a thanks for the ride?" Chute was still grinning maniacally as they dangled upside down over Mid City.

"You should've told me! You let me think we were doomed!"

"You shouldn't have fallen off your dragon." Chute bounced on the cord twice, and then Kitt felt herself flying again as the cord flung them both away, up in the air again--

"Same time tomorrow, rookie!" Chute yelled as Turbulance magged her back up.

Kitt slowly picked herself off the Mid City roof she'd landed on. Damnit, she had _bruises_, and she'd need to _walk_ all the way back, and she had to study for that gear test, and more than anything else she had to _practice_, again and again until she finally _got it_...

_Scales_, she thought angrily. How the Magna Draconis was she expected to compete against _Chute_? Ever?

* * *

"I've set it to human-level speed!" Chute yelled cheerily. "This should be a piece of cake--aside from the pitfalls and traps, of course!"

She rushed down the Vortex Tube, Kitt following behind. It was a small area, but dangerous for all that; obstacles sprang from the walls, and winds constantly buffeted both her and Wyldfyr as they navigated its many convolutions.

Kitt tucked herself down in the saddle as the winds froze her; they weren't more than a slight inconvenience for Wyldfyr, but she couldn't for the life of her see how Chute--far ahead and already vanishing into the distance--could be wearing only a thin racing jacket and whooping as she ran through the obstacles.

She jumped as the winds suddenly changed direction, avoiding a spar shooting out from the wall; a trapdoor opened below them, and they leaped free of it just in time.

Her hair was flapping in front of her eyes; she brushed it out of her face, and saw a spiked wall looming in front of her.

"Stop!" She tried to pull Wyldfyr to a halt, but the winds behind them spurred them on. "Wait..."

She activated the green ramming gear just in time as they came to a screeching halt. "Okay, let's...go around..." She looked at the wall, but saw no gaps in it, and said several choice curses before realising that it was putting her still further behind.

They walked back through the winds, then took a run-up; she launched her rappel gear across a hook in the ceiling, and they leaped above the wall.

When the hook retracted back into the roof. They fell together, skidding across the ground as they shifted quickly from side to side to avoid the trapdoors that appeared below them.

_Braking gear?_ Kitt wondered, fearing the possibility of another fall. But she was far behind already, and she _needed_ to catch up...

The winds blinded her as Wyldfyr jumped over another gaping hole; she hadn't even _seen_ that one. She gasped as they ran past a spinning turnstile, and ducked just in time as the spiked ball came towards her head.

_Losing, stupid, can't _do_ this..._

She missed street racing, where she'd won every time without this kind of effort. Before Artha came along, before he'd had her placed in the Academy on the merit of his skill, before she'd learned that there was no way, not even after helping save the city, no way she could compete without the proper Elite gear and high mag-energy levels and a dragon who could handle all that...

She activated Aero gear. Plain, ordinary Aero gear, level three, which got her leaping over another vast gap with the benefit of the winds. She deactivated it carefully as they leaped past spikes lancing from the ground, retaining it; she couldn't afford to lose the gear she had.

"C'mon, Wyldfyr," she muttered. It wasn't her dragon; it was _her_, failing to use the proper strategies to get this done. They ran up through a loop in the Vortex Tube, swiftly down again across an oiled floor that required braking gear (too slow, damn it all) to get past, up again through a loop as missiles flew from the walls, nearly gutting both of them--

_damn it still, she wasn't going nearly fast enough--_

--and finally on the last home stretch, the long road towards the exit. She avoided several turnstiles, ducking past the winds as they ran, activating her thruster gear in a final gesture of effort, maybe salvaging it from a total loss to a second-to-last equivalent, nearly there...

She gasped as the turnstile hit them from behind, sending them flying out to land skidding next to Chute and Turbulance, almost falling off the roof next to their well-rested glory.

"What kept you?" Chute asked, though she didn't wait for an answer as she leaped off the roof, activating her Aero gear.

It was the strictly Academy sport of roof-jumping across the tilted towers of Sun City, further limited to the dangerous and daring. Which, of course, would _always_ include Chute.

Well, Kitt Wann had a rep for being dangerous and daring too. Thrusters followed by Aero gear, and she was just behind Chute, sliding onto the tip of the purple-towered Veltan Citadel then leaping to the brown curlicues of Talis Mining, skidding across a red tower she didn't know the name of, braking gear to skid then thruster activation to fly, still not caught up to Chute--

She grit her teeth as she continued to push through the air, battling her exhaustion and bruises. They'd had no time to rest between the Vortex and this; _how was she _expected_ to handle this but she was nearly there, doing it, and if she let the adrenaline rush take her she could..._

She and Wyldfyr performed a neat jump from the blue Triton Citadel, and then found themselves skating the edge of the Paynn Citadel. She smelled smoke from Chute's thruster gear as they ran across the gutter, and then cried out as she felt the mag-field of the security system activate behind them. They jumped too quickly, and were upside down in the air, spinning; Kitt turned the Aero gear to accommodate the roll, she wasn't going to fall this time, and then they were upright again, lurching past another high tower, and her arm scraped against it as Wyldfyr leaned a bit far too the left, and as she went into another barrel-roll her head bounced past a spire.

_Ow._

Wyldfyr panted below her as they made it to the less intimidating Academy East Tower; Chute was ahead, again, slipping around the end of North Tower as easily as though she was racing on a junior track.

"Okay, boy, let's--keep going--" Kitt muttered. She concentrated; mag-energy flew out behind them as she pushed it into her thrusters, and they flew to South Tower, just as Chute leaped from it.

The thrusters whined; she had an idea, though, and flung out her grappling hook to let Chute help carry her through the sky. Chute actually turned, flashed a grin at her, and drew the rope towards herself. Kitt gasped as they flew through the air, catching up fast; and then Chute released the hook with a mag-push, and they hit the rooftop hard as Chute leaped away behind them.

Kitt made the jump, concentrating on sending her energy into the thruster gear; the air beat around her as though she was back in the Vortex Tube once more, but she paid it no heed.

The gutter loomed towards them; Kitt leaned forward, trying to provide leverage. The Academy stables were the next rooftop on, the end of the course if she was lucky, and with Chute closer than she there was no choice...

"Mag me, Wyldfyr!" she cried, and then she was flying through the air in her own right, trying to beat Chute to the finish line at any cost. She hurtled through the sky, reaching out for the edge of the roof; she was fine, she was _great_, they were nearly there--

* * *

and she screamed as Wyldfyr's mag-energy gave out and she bounced off the roof, bruised, and it was all she could do as she fell _again_ to use the last of her sympathetic mag-field to make sure Wyldfyr landed safely, and as Chute kept soaring between rooftops she fell, nearly impaling herself on a spike she hit sideon instead, opening her parachute at the last minute.

Chute had already leaped down to her, and opened her own parachute as they fell between the network of roof-spines.

"Thought you'd need a save again," Chute said. She looked up at the disappearing Sun City above them. "You've picked up some really bad habits lately, young draghopper."

"Whoops," Kitt said bitterly.

Chute grinned unexpectedly, ripped off her parachute, and dived to grab onto Kitt, causing them both to fall more quickly through the various obstacles.

She was _laughing_. She was _insane_, which Kitt communicated to her in very explicit terms.

"Hey, I don't do these tutorials for nothing." Chute leaped away from her, performing a perfect cartwheel as she landed on the municipal mag-elevator to Sun City. "Five-thirty sharp next morning! I'll call you!"

* * *

Her bruises _hurt_, and she hadn't had enough money to afford the mag-elevator up, which meant that the walk on top of everything else had tired her almost enough to make her collapse into bed straight after stabling Wyldfyr. (History test. Damnit. After failing to answer nearly half the questions on the gear test yesterday on top of everything Chute was forcing her through it wasn't like she felt motivated to study.)

She woke when her vidd-comm went off, blaring so loudly her first thought was ‚'invading Shadow Booster and minions', or possibly 'fire'.

"Hey there, young draghopper!" Chute's cheerful voice yelled.

Kitt put her pillow over her head, groaning as she remembered.

"Just thought you might need a wake-up call. See you out there!"

_Five o'clock_, Kitt thought dourly as she read the bright numbers on the dial. It felt like three, she still ached practically everywhere, and it wasn't even daylight yet.

_For obvious reasons_, she grumpily reminded herself as she slowly pulled on her jumpsuit, adding a lined jacket. It didn't mean she had to _like_ it.

She walked down to the stables while trying not to wince, glancing at her watch in the half-light. Ten minutes left. She'd have to hurry.

Wyldfyr was awake, apparently more recovered than she from the previous day's efforts; she quickly mounted, racing to the meeting spot with no time to spare.

"Took your time." Chute, naturally, was already there and prepared; she threw the bulky equipment to Kitt, nearly knocking her from the saddle. "Put this on."

Kitt unwrapped the silvery gear, still recovering from her breathless rush; Wyldfyr magged the dragon's part of it to his body, and Kitt quickly dismounted to wrap her part of it around herself, regretting her bulky jacket already. Chute wore her gear gracefully, resembling a gleaming storybook champion; Kitt's was starting to itch already, reminding her of the bruises she already had.

She and Wyldfyr followed Chute and Turbulance to the starting blocks for the challenge, while above them the dark shape of Drakkus loomed in the sky. The stretch of ramp was the longest single strip in the Academy, built from its highest point; when she stared down at its pale polish, Kitt couldn't help feeling nervous.

_The ultimate track in Dragon City, in some ways..._

At least there were no obstacles other than the thing itself, she reminded herself, resolving to at least acquit herself fairly in this.

Chute pulled a stopwatch from her saddle pouch. "Sixty-three seconds," she said.

Kitt nodded, looking down at the path before them; she had taken a spot two lanes from Chute, not far from the middle. She watched Chute, feeling Wyldfyr curled below her, ready for action. Sixty-three seconds was longer than she had expected; she took a deep breath, weighing the path in her mind.

And then suddenly Chute was off, her laughter a faint tinkle on the breeze, going from stillness to action in the blink of an eye. Wyldfyr followed almost instantly; Kitt felt the speed of the wind rushing past her face as they increased in speed beside Chute. She needed no thruster gear, just yet; the ramp was steep and polished, and the important thing was to have just the right amount of control on the way up again.

Chute was ahead, slightly. Kitt leaned forward, looking towards her to imitate her movements. They sped ever faster down, the ground a living white sea beneath them as it flowed below Wyldfyr's feet. She felt she was nearing the two hundred miles-per-hour speed limit; Chute had to be exceeding that, surging easily ahead of her as they raced.

And then at last there was the upswing, a slight slowing; Kitt put her thrusters into gear to keep up with Chute's seemingly effortless speed and skill, letting out her stabiliser to take the path with the degree of moderation it required. She looked up at the horizon to check the time; they were going to make it, it seemed, barely a head behind Chute now.

She gritted her teeth, trying to drive all thoughts of pain or tiredness from her mind. They continued to run, not flagging in pace as the thrusters carried the acceleration they had gained; it was almost as though time had stopped as the road continued, endless around them in the early light.

It might have been an eternity before she saw Turbulance's muscles tensing to make the leap, but the instant after she saw Chute moving the did the same, and leaped up to face the sun's early light reflected by Drakkus as it set.

This was what was known in the Academy as sun-diving: to catch the first rays of the sun in that moment of reflection, and gather it to a suit of glittering armour.

She saw Chute silhouetted against the blaze of light, a proud dark figure atop a now-shining dragon, incandescent. She tried to imitate her pose, staring up into the blaze herself as the light hit, and then it was over and she and Wyldfyr were falling onto the platform, no longer consumed by light but falling exhausted to the depths.

She tried to stop the impending crash-landing, but fell to the ground as Wyldfyr overbalanced and skidded to a stop.

She looked down at herself. Silver, across her chest and arms, and Wyldfyr's right side and front also glowing; she at least felt slightly energised from the mag-energy the sunrise had bestowed on the gear.

But in front of her was Chute, glowing almost so golden it was painful to look at her, and she covered her eyes in shame and blindness.

Gah. She'd hit the ground hard, with nothing to show for it. How could she keep making _these_ mistakes?

"Not bad, kid," she heard Chute say nonchalantly.

"Not _bad_?" Kitt found herself yelling. "Just tell me, what did I do wrong this time? How was I ever supposed to be able to do this?"

"Okay, so you didn't do too good, either," Chute said. "What happened? Thought you were supposed to be the most daring on the streets."

Kitt lowered her hands from her face, and stood up to meet her. "Maybe I'm not," she said, slowly remounting Wyldfyr and hanging limply in the saddle. "I just _can't_..."

Chute and Turbulance started to move away, trotting quickly down the ramp in all their glory. Kitt and Wyldfyr started to stumble in that direction, but stopped as Chute held up a hand.

"Call me," she said. "Like I said. I don't do this for nothing."

Kitt slumped as she saw her disappear, racing over the rooftops as though she and her dragon were truly made of flawless sunlight.

_Ouch_. She'd taken a hard fall, and the unpowered sun gear just looked ridiculous. She tore it from herself resentfully.

_Gear class, history class, phys ed class, party..._

The party for Artha's recent victories. She couldn't miss that, though she felt a sick jealousy twist through her.

_What _had_ happened?_ Kitt thought.

She had known all along that Wyldfyr couldn't take Elite Academy gear. But she'd _won_, at least. Until Artha had turned up.

Not his fault, of course. He had a Destiny, Parm had a Destiny, Lance had a Destiny. _Pyrrah_ (albeit temporarily) had been given a Destiny, even _Moordryd_ (whom she'd beaten all the time before Artha turned up, not that anyone ever cared to mention it). And so she'd...let him. Or let herself fade, because there was no way she could even consider competing against him or Chute or anyone here in the Academy...

Which he'd sponsored her into.

_Thanks so much, stableboy_, she thought, and felt the more sickened at her unfairness.

She'd go to the party. Cheer Artha on. Who was she to think this even mattered in the long run?

Wyldfyr growled as they hobbled away.

* * *

She'd gained a conditional pass in the gear test.

A small thing to feel elated over, particularly considering the yet-unknown History results, but knowing they weren't going to throw her out just yet made Kitt feel suprisingly cheerful as she and Wyldfyr ran down the Skree Slide. It was a simple course for her, not dissimilar to the monthly Lava Runs, and her familiarity with that Down City training ground made it almost routine. Comfortably ahead of the rest of her class for the time being (Artha, of course, had been placed in the more advanced level), she travelled contentedly downward, dodging the trapdoors and turnstiles with confidence as her stabiliser did not fail her.

Until Chute dashed past, her usual grin on her face as she rushed through the course at an impossible pace. Kitt stared at her, half-hoping that she'd stop bloody well grinning like that when she knew very well how tough and dangerous it was, and maybe more than that hoping that she'd bother to so much as acknowledge her presence.

Chute did neither.

Kitt clenched her fists. "Let's go, Wyldfyr," she said. "Remember how we won the Boom Race?"

Her thruster gear went off with a bang, and they flew through space to land on a turnstile. It spun, propelling them along; in the air, Kitt used her standard stabiliser to almost fly. They ran along the wall, avoiding the floor trapdoors, at top speed once again, and then they could finally see Chute. Kitt grinned as she accelerated, using the track's slippery surface to advantage.

Chute looked up to see her, and activated her own thrusters. Kitt channelled mag-energy into speed, feeling almost-forgotten exhilaration as she experienced the power of an all-out race through rough terrain. Aero gear as they leaped over a trapdoor, stabiliser as they swerved to the side and ran up the wall, coming back down slightly ahead of Chute, leaping up when the floor threatened to trip them over, above all simply running for speed. Chute activated white sledding gear, edging ahead of Kitt again as she pulled off a sharp turn; Kitt threw out her rappel gear as she made the turn, raising a large trapdoor in front of Chute to slow her down.

Chute laughed as she leaped--clearing the obstacle, but banking as the trapdoor slammed down behind her and she saw the turnstile awaiting her. Kitt surged ahead, jumping over the gap, but then Chute was catching up again, and they raced together through the last, narrowing sequence, full of deadly twists and turns as they struggled for a win.

They exited at about the same time, as far as Kitt could tell as she started panting, and then another Academy racer followed.

She hadn't even noticed the third person behind them.

Chute cocked her head to look at her at last. "That was kinda fun," she said.

"The Down City Lava Runs were based on it," Kitt replied breathlessly.

"Oh, right. They always scheduled Extreme Dragon training on the same day back when I was around," Chute said.

"Yeah, I saw you competing a couple of times," Kitt said.

Chute suddenly looked thoughtful. "Knew there was something I'd forgotten! Tell Artha I saw him competing in the Academy Standard race the other day, and pass on my congratulations."

"Yeah, sure. You always did think he was good."

"Yup. Not so into the sort of racing I like, though."

"Daring stunts." Kitt sighed.

"And speed." Chute grinned. "It's all about the action."

"That's what people used to say about me," Kitt said. "Is that why you agreed to tutor me?"

"It was. Catch you later, I've got some track to pound." Chute started to move away as the rest of Kitt's class trickled out of the tube.

It felt like the end of something as Kitt watched her move briskly away.

"No!" Kitt yelled, but Chute didn't seem to hear. Heedless of her classmates' surprise, she released her thruster gear, creating a dark cloud of smoke around her as she leaped to the ramp to catch up.

"How about the Vortex again, Chute? If you're not worried about me beating you again?"

Chute laughed. "I so won that one, rookie. Give me a time."

"Six days from now, at Abandonn's setting." Kitt said, sitting proudly in the saddle as Chute departed.

She'd need the time to practice.

* * *

The winds had been amped up to extreme level, and Kitt grimly concentrated as she navigated the Vortex Tube. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail, which at least kept it out of her face, though the dragon-strength winds could have bowled over an Earth-class. The key was to use the winds to advantage, wearing weighted heat armour to keep you going even when the winds weren't blowing your way.

She did not shiver as the cold winds rushed past her; she'd dealt with the goosebumps over and under her suit for the past week as she'd spent most of her time honing her skills on this track.

She could do this. It wasn't a hope; more of a fact, an echo in the back of her mind as she focused on racing the track she'd rehearsed. Kitt Wann, riding again.

It was _fun_ as she activated sledding gear as the wind changed, and skated upside down across the roof of the tube. She and Wyldfyr leaped on a turnstile, were thrown off it as it turned to fling them into space, flew with the wind and thrusters flaring.

_Racing_, some said, _was the closest thing to flying without leaving the ground. Except, of course, when you did._

She laughed in sheer joy as she glided in a stray wind on Aero gear, safely rising above an opening trapdoor before pulling off a perfect landing. Chute was beside her, sliding on sledding gear; as though they'd planned the move, they simultaneously rose from dragonback to fly together above a turnstile, landing safely as the winds pressed against them.

Chute whooped as she fired up her thruster gear; Kitt activated flares, and leaped into the air where an opposing current carried her and Wyldfyr along.

This was what she wanted, she thought as she raced with the Academy expert.

_Race like the wind_, she remembered Chute advising, and roared with Wyldfyr as the tempest carried them along.

It was too soon when they exited, though looking up at the sky they didn't have much time left.

"This is...different," Chute said as they walked together along the rooftop.

"Yeah. I requisitioned the exit to be here."

"Ooh, so the early rising wasn't a fad. Hardcore!" she added approvingly. "I'm guessing you bought supplies?"

Kitt gestured to the two bundles on the ground ahead of them, pinned down with trapping gear.

"Ohh, yeah." Chute magged the silvery gear to herself once again, closely followed by Kitt. Above them, Drakkus inched into position; they'd have to race much faster this time sundiving.

Which, Kitt thought, she would rather like, and glancing at Chute's expression knew she felt the same.

"To sunrise and beyond!" Chute called as they started down the track. Kitt had taken the middle lane, and focused on nothing but the run ahead of her. Wyldfyr was moving quickly, surely; a slight mag-energy meld between them, and they ran with assurance and energy, sure on the track. The sound of wind rushed past their ears, welcome after so long in the exhilaration of the Vortex.

Kitt looked up at the moon, standing still in the sky compared to their speed. They were getting closer and closer, their breaking of the speed limit echoing through their bodies. In the horizon, she could see the growing sunlight as she sent power to their thrusters.

The track flowed under them like milk, dawn-pale and rising; there was no sound bar the pounding of feet and the rush of air, and in the fevered run there was peace in the simplicity of it all.

They were wind, tempest, lightning together: a human and a dragon, to catch the sun.

She saw the sunlight in the distance, and leaped; its blaze gathered around her, and for a moment she felt immortal.

And then she was landing, gliding perfectly to a standstill, and looked up at the similarly enthused Chute.

She was reflected in Chute's armour as Chute was reflected in hers; an endless line of gold, just across from sunrise.

Chute grinned. "So, got any ideas for working off the excess energy?"

Kitt divested herself of the glowing gear, the energy already inside both her and Wyldfyr. "Just a couple."

She leaped to the Chayyun Citadel roof, and then the Academy's East Tower, Wyldfyr's feet previously prepared for what they knew they would encounter in this episode of roof-jumping; quickly, they leaped across to the Triton Citadel, as Kitt looked back to see Chute catching up.

Chute skidded on the tiles coated with a thin layer of one of Parm's preparations, then jumped to a safer rooftop; Kitt allowed herself a small smile as she surged ahead with Wyldfyr, neatly balancing with moves she'd prepared.

Light was starting to shine around them, and the morning cool was refreshing; Kitt grinned as Chute chased them across the rooftops, the sky their own still at this early hour.

"You set this up!" Chute yelled as she began to catch up, parallel to Kitt on the Gallio building. Mag-energy gathered around her right hand, and Kitt prepared to duck. "Thanks! It's fun!"

Bright sparks exploded into the air, fireworks like sunlight scattering around both of them as they ran after each other. Kitt responded with a shower of her own, and the white fires were granted red hearts as they danced.

Kitt lost track of time as they chased each other, aloft and around the Citadels in the blink of an eye; she still felt a part of the sunlight, joyfully energetic in weightless air. Neither would win; first Turbulance would take the lead in a daring leap, then Wyldfyr surged ahead again with a dazzling speed burst, and for most of it they simply ran together, neck-and-neck.

At last, they came to a breathless halt atop East Tower, laughing at each other as they panted in exhaustion.

Kitt was the first to dismount, patting Wyldfyr gently down. "I wanted to thank you," she said. "You taught me how this felt, what it means to race. I guess you taught me to be myself again."

Chute shrugged as she clambered down from Turbulance, settling her saddle into a comfortable position atop the dragon. "Worked for me," she said.

"That's good," said Kitt, making sure Wyldfyr was well-positioned before turning back to Chute, who was lounging next to a complacent-looking Turbulance. "Because I wanted to thank you properly."

She leaped, catching Chute off-guard, and they fell together into Paynn Citadel grounds.

* * *

She felt the security mag-fields start to harden around them, which slowed them down in the fall.

That was before the automated gear system started firing at them.

They slammed into a wall, pushing back from it to dodge the trapping gear. They hit the other side, Kitt cushioning Chute from the blow; she directed the fall to a length of wire strung within the security devices, and swung on it to evade the hostile fire.

She saw Chute grin as she reached for the bottom of a purple cylinder firing mag-bursts, and angled it to shoot out another weapon as they threw themselves from it.

"My kind of trip!" Chute called approvingly as they fell between a range of attack devices, curling her wrist rappel gear around a hook to swing them out of danger. "It doesn't get more real than this!"

"I don't know," Kitt said, partially activating her glider pack to fly them out of the way of a stray piece of trapping gear.

A sudden mag-bolt hit the left side of her glider, and they went into a spin, tightly entwined as mag-bursts shattered around them.

Chute bent into the motion, and turned the fast spin into an elaborate dodging maneuver, skirting close to mag-bolts to make them continue to strike other parts of Word Paynn's security system. "Party's open!" she whooped, kicking off a pile of scrap metal that was all that was left of a particularly fine automated defence system.

"The party hasn't even started yet," Kitt said, and leaned forward to kiss her as they fell past a bank of mag-cannons turning in their direction, satisfied to finally shock her.

Chute's tongue was unexpectedly in her mouth. They were falling towards the barrel of a mag-cannon, and she tried to pull away so that she could scream; but then they ended up hitting the side of it as the energy burned the soles of their boots, and then they fell again.

She was hardcore too. She'd just _show_ Chute, and to be honest it felt _damned incredible_.

She reactivated the power pack on what was left of her glider, sending them into another convoluted spin past trapping nets exploding around them as she moved her hand under Chute's jacket, feeling her warm flesh below the material of her suit. Chute's mouth tightened around hers, and then she grasped a stray line of trapping gear and threw them away from the snare. They ghosted through the air, slipping across the curve of one of the Citadel's smooth gutters, and then Kitt felt her hand guided to a seam in the material.

Kitt Wann never liked to be beaten. As she threw out a fire grenade to tackle the problem of an incoming green missile, she thrust open the seam and forced her hand inside, touching the silky-smooth loose flesh, like soft, springy cotton as Chute moaned into her mouth. She wrapped her other arm about Chute's waist, keeping them bound to each other.

A hand moved from holding onto her to the nape of her neck, tickling her in a way that made her gasp; and then her hair fell about her face again, free from its confines and blocking her vision as Chute pulled off a move to free them from the incoming trapping gear.

"Hardcore," Chute mumbled again.

"Ohh, yeah." Kitt diverted her attention to Chute's neck, coming close to biting through the skin, satisfied as she felt Chute's body reacting; meanwhile, Chute had reached her hand down to the small of her back, stroking up her spine with powerful fingers.

And then her glider was ripped off, and a good deal of the back zipper of her outfit along with it; Chute held the glider above both their heads with her other hand, and used it to guide their path away from a series of motion-sensing missiles.

They were down in the Mid-City part of the complex by now, Kitt estimated, still falling past the exterior of Word Paynn's building; she kicked off from a ledge to avoid the last of the missiles, and leaned into Chute as trapping gear passed them by.

She moaned as Chute hit a particularly sensitive spot on her back, arching and almost purring like a cat; to revenge herself (_mmm, good_; she'd always been sensitive just _there_), she moved her hand down, unzipping the fly (in the same position as her own jumpsuit, good) and parted the thin fabric of Chute's underwear to touch her as she wriggled in anticipation.

A fire grenade exploded just next to them, and suddenly her finger was inside Chute as the explosion shook them, sending them into a dive towards a neatly made labyrinth of trapping gear. She felt energised; Kitt turned up the palm of the hand she had wrapped about Chute's waist, and fired a small directed mag-bolt to the centre of the maze, which fell apart. They scraped along the side of the wall to slow themselves, and fell again.

Kitt had paused; she looked up at Chute's face, but the movement of her body as she pressed herself to Kitt could only mean one thing. Kitt complied with the demand, drawing on her memories of what felt good, pressing her thumb into Chute's clit as she rode her.

They had to have almost finished falling through the Work Town Paynn factory complex now.

"Harder--" Chute said, and then she flipped them upside down so she was doing a one-armed handstand on the glider, and they avoided pipes and poles lancing through the air until they flipped again once they were through that.

A piece of stray tentacle gear flew past them as Kitt rested--well, _not_ rested; she was definitely still quite active--for the moment atop Chute's horizontal body.

An idea; she reached out for the thick rope as they hurtled through space, and with a flicker of mag-energy she had left gained control of it as Chute's legs rubbed around her kneecap. She wound it around her hand, then grabbed back onto Chute as they twisted again. Chute's warm breath was on her cheek, and she tormented the edge of Kitt's ear with small bites.

"Press down," she whispered as Chute pushed at the knob in her lower spine that always felt so good, and then reached up to stroke the underside of Chute's wrist as she held her. Her hand traced a tattoo across the faint blue veins, far more gently than the action of Chute's hips slamming down to meet her as she thrust. Her--what did you call them? Inner arms?--were lovely; but Kitt had another goal in mind, and carefully slipped a line of the tentacle gear around Chute's wrist in a knot.

Sonar gear screamed around them; they recognized it as the distraction it was, and easily dodged the flash-pod explosions as they fell into the darker Shadow Town, distant and invisible Precinct already past them.

They fell atop a narrow slide delivering some material to a vast churn; balancing atop it so she wouldn't fall in, Kitt grinned to herself as she nipped at the top of Chute's bosom, Chute whooping as they skidded down the ramp.

Chute rolled over, pushing them off as they neared the substance's destination, and Kitt had her chance as they skated along the edge of another channel. She pulled the cord tight around Chute's wrist, bringing the glider pack behind her, and once it was low enough activated the mag-energy to bind it to the remnants of her suit.

She leaped from the pipe, and they passed narrowly through the gaps between a tightening network of spines and pipes. It became warmer, both outside and inside them, as they dived through Paynn's heating tubes; Kitt pulled Chute's bound hand between them, flicking the gear's switch to expand more thick threads to tie them together.

"You want this?" Kitt looked up to see Chute grin wickedly as she arched her hand between Kitt's legs, and kissed her again as they fell through the thick heat, devouring each other like flame.

It was consuming, distracting; Kitt wanted to scream wildly, hear in colour and see in thunder as Chute's skill brought her to adrenaline-peaked excitement. They hurtled and spun past whirring machinery, the broken glider making them fly with joyous and unreliable abandon as they skidded past pipes and gutters.

And then a security field shimmered below them as Word's Shadowtown territory suddenly ran out; Kitt banked to avoid it, but as they narrowly avoided it the glider on her back exploded.

In freefall, Down City's darkness approached them.

Chute twisted to look below them, and grinned around Kitt's mouth with sharp teeth as her warmth shuddered around Kitt's hand, yelling something to the too-far skies above them.

"_Yes..._"

The area Kitt vaguely knew, Dragon Eye territory and mostly deserted; she flung them to bounce off the rotting wood of a ramp as they dived into the depths. The gapped gutter to a deserted building, an ancient pipe dripping with a vaguely disturbing-looking yellow substance, the slippery edge of a muddy street--it was desperate now, struggling in the bond that held them as they tried to halt the fall.

Chute's hair had been tousled by the wind, her helmet gone quite some time ago; a wild look turned her eyes to living storm, and Kitt had to smile as well in the energy of it all.

They scraped across the rough edge of an old brick building, then Kitt grabbed an advertising construct from the wall for them to skate on in the air, until they turned unexpectedly upside down and flung it from them to avoid being squashed; Chute had them fall along and then dive from a rotting ladder just as its rungs shattered, and then they were clear of Down City, with nothing left to hold on to.

* * *

They landed on one of the templetops of Old City, a deserted location only slightly glowing with iridescent green moss, a hopelessly tangled mess of tentacle gear and scraps of clothing.

Chute's cheeks were flushed a solid red as she raised her head from between Kitt's breasts. "That was claw-scraping cool! Let's do it again!" she said.

"Hmm," said Kitt, waiting for Chute's image to resolve itself through the concussion into just one of her.

"No, really." Chute leisurely leaned down and kissed her, taking slow possession of Kitt's bruised lips. "You liked it?"

"Yeah," Kitt said rashly. "That was _amazing_." She still felt warm and sticky, exhilarated; unconsciously, she was still moving her hips up to meet Chute's. "Lucky there wasn't anyone around, right?"

"Gives me a chance to return your favour," Chute said matter-of-factly, and before Kitt could react had leaned down to peel the tatters of her jumpsuit from her crotch.

"What--someone might see!" Kitt glanced around at the darkness around them; she'd never been to this particular area of Old City before, and didn't know what usually took up residence here.

"Doesn't risk just add to the fun?" Chute said, already starting to touch her, and Kitt felt her resolve weakening.

"All right--" she said, cut off as Chute lowered her mouth to her, giving up coherent thought for the moment.

After all, she was a teenager, and Chute was (incredible) good, and there was a certain thrill to the possible danger. The thought that anyone could happen across them, Chute wrapped around like a particularly attractive Dragontide present with the tentacle gear as her mouth did things Kitt hadn't even thought were possible, the edge of potential discovery--strangely exciting, and _very_ arousing. Her hands tightened around Chute's shoulders, her right hand slipping under one of the gear's strings.

Chute looked up and nodded as the cord pulled around them, and Kitt manipulated it further; they were drawn together, wrapped around, and as she pulled at it, Chute altered her movements accordingly, bringing her to a peak.

"Magna Draconis!" It felt like the darkness above her was _exploding_. "Drakkus, that's--"

There was something tangling around her legs, stroking the underside of her knees; a moment later as she focused through the half-light, and she realised it wasn't either Chute or the tentacle gear.

"That's the Muhorta! Ohscalesholy_fuck_--" The gear's bonds were now a disadvantage, an obstacle that wouldn't let them get away as the Muhorta's tentacle did really weird things to her skin--

"C'mon!" Chute flung their bodies to the side, and just as the energy drain started they found themselves rolling down the temple slope, hitting the hard bricks at every step. "You--"

Her head hit a step.

"--really know how to show a girl a good time!" she finished breathlessly as they reached the bottom, already reaching for Kitt once again (not that there was far to go). "Bit of a pity, though," she said once a state of generally contented equilibrium had returned. "If not for the energy drain, there are so many possibilities with--"

Kitt drove the gear into full acceleration.

"--tentacles. Yes."

The blue strands swarmed them, wriggling comfortably around their bodies as though of their own will.

"Ohh, yeah. Good time," said Kitt.

* * *

_fin_

Feedback is most definitely appreciated!


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